Soil Organisms and the Ecology of the Soil

The World Beneath the Surface

Beneath the soils surface is a world populated by a vast array of creatures, all fighting for every leaf that falls to the forest floors, ever root that pushes through the spaces of the soil, every fecal pellet, and every dead body. o Every handful of soil is likely to contain billions of organisms o These animals range in size from macrofauna (such as moles, prairie dogs, earthworms, and millipedes) to mesofauna (tiny springtails and mites) to microfauna (nematodes and singlecelled protozoans). o Plants (flora) include the roots of higher plants and microscopic algae and diatoms. o Other life includes fungi, bacteria, and actinomycetes. This diversity is made possible because of the vast variety of foods and wide range of habitats found in soils. o In that same handful of soil, there may be areas of good aeration and bad, high, and low acidity, cool and warmer temperatures, moist and dry conditions, and localized concentrations of dissolved nutrients, organic substrates and competing organisms. o But this is all good. o A high species diversity provides a high degree of functional diversity. o This, in turn, provides the soils ecosystem with functional redundancy many organisms doing the same activities/functions. In most healthy soil ecosystems, there are several and in some cases thousands of different species capable of carrying out each of the thousands of enzymatic or physical processes that proceed all the time. This redundancy produces two features: ecosystem stability and resilience. o Stability refers to the soils ability even in the face of wide variations in environmental conditions and inputs to

continue to perform such functions as the cycling of nutrients, assimilation of organic wastes, and maintenance of soil structure. o Resilience refers to the ability of the soil to bounce back to functional health after a severe disturbance has disrupted normal processes. o No single organism is likely to become completely dominant in the soil ecosystem. Loss of any one species is likely to cripple the entire system. o BUT it is important to note that there are some critical species performing specific activities that become keystone species though which we measure the health of soil. These include burrowing earthworms and certain nitrifying bacteria. Why are we interested in soil life? o The first reason is to understand the processes through which healthy soil is maintained. But theres more to it than just that. o The soil is a major storehouse of the genetic innovations that nature has incorporated into the DNA of all these creatures over hundreds of millions of years. o We have learnt how to use some of these microorganisms already to produce beer, yogurt, and antibiotics. o And with genetic engineering that allows use to transfer genetic materials from one type of organism to another, the soil DNA bank has taken on much more importance.

Organisms in Action
Soil organisms are engaged in a constant struggle over food and are linked together in this quest into what is called a food web. o This food web contains a hierarchy of organisms categorized as: Primary producers Primary consumers Secondary consumers

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Tertiary consumers In all ecosystems, plants play the role of primary producers. They use water, energy from the sun, and carbon from the atmospheric carbon dioxide to produce organic molecules and living tissues used by other life. Certain soil organisms consume this material. These are herbivores. Others consume the debris of dead tissues left by plants and animals. This is called detritus; the consumers; detritivores.

Primary Consumers
Detritivore animals, including mites, woodlice, and earthworms, chew and tear plant tissues up, opening them to faster decomposition by microflora. The animals and microflora that use the energy stored in plant residues are primary consumers. The actions of the microflora are mostly biochemical; fauna apply both physical and chemical means of breaking up these residues. Mesofauna and microfauna chew plant residues. Earthworms literally chew their way through the soil. The actions of these animals enhance the activity of the microflora in three ways: o The chewing action fragments the litter, cutting through the protective outer surface and exposing the more easily decomposable cell contents to microbial digestion. o The chewed plant tissue are thoroughly mixed with microorganisms in the animal gut. o The mobile animals carry micro-organisms, dispersing them through their fecal droppings.

Secondary Consumers
These primary consumers die off too and become food sources OR they are sources of food for predators and parasites in the soil. These are the secondary consumers microflora such as bacteria, fungi, and actinomycetes, and carnivores of all sizes such as

centipedes and mites, spiders, nematodes, snails, and certain moles. Examples of microphytic feeders organisms that use microflora as their food source include springtail insects (collembolan), mites, termites, nematodes, and protozoa. These feeders exert considerable influence over the activity and growth of fungal and bacterial populations.

Tertiary Consumers
Finally, there are those organisms that consume secondary consumers. These are the tertiary consumers Ants consume centipedes, spiders, and mites.

Abundance, Biomass, and Metabolic Activity

Soil organisms are influence primarily by the amount of quality of food available, o Other factors include: Physical factors such as moisture and temperature Biotic factors predation and competition Chemical characteristics acidity, dissolved nutrients and salinity. o The total biomass the living fraction of the soil is generally related to the amount of organic matter present. On a dryweight basis, the living portion of the soil ranges between one and eight percent of the total soil organic matter. o Ratio of soil organic matter to detritus to microbial biomass to faunal biomass is 1000:100:10:1 Soil organisms can be classified as either autotrophic or heterotrophic on the basis of where they obtain the carbon needed for them to live. o Autotrophs obtain their carbon from simple carbon dioxide gas or carbonate minerals. Some are photoautotrophs (using solar energy), other are chemoautotrophs (using the energy released by the oxidation of inorganic elements).

o Heterotrophs obtain the carbon already fixed in organic materials. They break down the organic materials previously produced by other organisms primarily through the oxidation of the carbon in organic compounds.

Earthworms
Earthworms are probably the most important macroanimal in the soil. It is also a keystone species. o They are egg-laying hermaphrodites; eat detritus, soil organic matter, and microorganisms found in this material; do neat eat living plants or their roots. o Earthworms influence the soil and its structure in several ways: Burrowing they will ingest 2 to 30 times their own weight in soil every day. In doing so they create intricate burrows throughout the soil, contributing between 0.1 and 9 L of biopore volume through which water and air flow. Casts they also eject vast amounts of partially digested soil and organic matter. Called casts, this usually take the form of globular soil aggregates that increase the structural soundness of the soil. Nutrients the activities of earthworms also greatly enhance soil fertility and productivity by altering both the chemical and physical conditions of the soil, especially the upper 15 to 25 cm of soil. Earthworms increase the availability of mineral nutrients to plants in two ways: o As soil and organic matter pass through the earthworm, these are ground up physically as well as attacked chemically by digestive enzymes and its gut microflora. o As earthworms ingest detritus and soil organic matter of lower levels of nutrients, these are absorbed into the animals

themselves, becoming concentrations of such nutrients when they die and decay. o The numbers of earthworms found in arable soils range from 30 to 300 per square meter, equivalent of 300,000 to 3 million per hectare. o A simple method for evaluating earthworm populations is to take a shovelful of upturned soil, from between 25 to 30 cm deep. Count the number you find. There should be between five and 10 earthworms in a shovelful of healthy soil (temperate, humid soil). o The earthworm is known as natures tiller

Soil Microanimals
Soils present many habitats that are essentially aquatic, at least intermittently so. Because of this, many soil microfauna are closely related to the microfauna found in lakes and streams. The two groups of greatest importance are: nematodes and protozoa.

Nematodes
This is a highly diverse group. Most are predatory. Several have been commercialized as biological control agents for soil-borne insect pests. One example is the corn rootworm. Some can infect plant roots.

Protozoa
These include amoebas and flagellates. They are most active in the root zone, contributing to organic matter decay and nutrient release through their effect on bacterial populations.

Roots as Soil Organisms

Soil scientists are quirky they consider plant roots as soil organisms because of the way they act in the soil.

o Roots compete for O2 with soil life BUT also provide much of the carbon and energy needed by the soil community of fauna and microflora. o Roots vary in size from smaller than strands of microscopic fungi to large, visible roots of trees. o Roots contribute vast amounts of organic matter to the soil. On average, a corn crop will leave about 4,500 kg/ha of root residues. But it is the rhizosphere that is of greatest importance o The zone of soil significantly influenced by living roots usually extends about 2mm out from the root surface. This is the rhizosphere. o The chemical and biological characteristics of this zone are often very different from that of the surrounding bulk soil. Soil acidity may be 10 times higher or lower in the zone.

Rhizodeposition
Significant quantities of at least three broad types of organic compounds are released at the surface of roots: o Low-molecular weight organic compounds are exuded, including organic acids, sugars, amino acids, and phenolic compounds. Some of these exert growth-regulating influences on other plants and soil microorganisms. This is called allelopathy. o Second, high-molecular weight mucilages are secreted that form a substance called mucigel when mixed with microbial cells and clay particles. o Third, cells from the root cap and epidermis continually slough off as the root grows. Taken together, the types of Rhizodeposition typically account for two to 30% of total dry-matter production of young plants. o Because of the Rhizodeposition of carbon substrates and specific growth factors such as vitamins and amino acids microbial numbers in the rhizosphere are typically two to 10 times as great as in the surrounding bulk soil. o This is sometimes called the R/S ratio.

Soil Algae
Like plants, algae contain chlorophyll, enabling them to carry out photosynthesis. o Swim about in the soil solution, like protozoa and nematodes. o Some form lichens symbiotic associations with fungi that are important for colonizing bare rock and low-organic matter environments. o In addition to producing substantial amounts of organic matter, soil algae also secrete polysaccharides to help promote soil aggregation.

Soil Fungi
Tens of thousands of species of fungi have been identified in soils. o Their biomass in the upper 15cm of soil range between 1,000 to 15,000 kg/ha. o They are heterotrophs, living on living or dead organic matter. There are three basic groups: Yeasts Molds Mushroom fungi o In addition to being decomposers, fungi have significant impacts on soil ecology. Some are predators some attack nematodes Can synthesize a wide range of complex organic compounds Help produce humus A few predators of plants (mycotoxins) and can even lead to human sickness. One of the most important activities of soil fungi is the mutually beneficial association (symbiosis) between certain fungi and plant roots. o This association is called mycorrhizae, meaning fungus root.

o A mycorrhiza forms when a fungi invades a plant root. o These associations are the rule and not the exception for most plant species including many of our economicaly important plants. o The invading fungi generate extended roots, called hyphae, that reach outwards five to 15 cm from the infected root, extending into smaller micropores and producing as much as 10 times as much absorption surface as the root system of an uninfected plant. o In return, the plant supplies the fungi with sugars directly from the plant roots. There are two types of mycorrhizal associations of note: o Ectomycorrhiza includes hundreds of different fungal species associated primarily with temperate or semi-arid region trees and shrubs including pines, birch, hemlock, beech, oak, spruce, and fir. o Endomycorrhiza the most important of these are called arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM). These invade the plant cortical root cells where they stimulate the growing of small, highly branched structures called arbusules. These transfer nutrients from the fungi to the host plants and sugars from the plants to the fungi. It also stimulates the creation of vesicles that serve as storage organs for the mycorrhizae. o The roots of most economic crops form AM, as do most vegetables and fruits. o The presence of AM enhance nodulation and N fixation. o Tillage disrupts hyphal networks.

Soil Bacteria
These are the most diverse group of soil organisms. A gram of soil can typically hold 20,000 different species.

o As a group, bacteria participate vigorously in virtually all of the organic transactions that characterize a healthy soil because they possess a broad range of enzymatic capabilities. o Bacteria hold near monopolies in several basic enzymemediated transformations oxidation or reduction of selected chemical elements in soils; nitrification; reduction of inorganic ions such as Fe and Mg; and in N fixation.

Beneficial Effects of Soil Organisms

Soil organisms contribute to a healthy soil in five basic ways: o Organic material deposition o Breakdown of toxic compounds o Inorganic transformations o Nitrogen fixation o Plant protection BUT can also damage plants, too. o Soil fauna such as rodents, snail, and slugs can attack plants as can nematodes. o Microflora and plant disease from fungi (wilts, damping-off, root rots, blight)

Effect of Management Practices on Soil Organisms

Some agricultural practices can be very damaging to soil environment, impacting on soil organism populations. Others can be beneficial. o Some management practices that decrease biodiversity in soils: Fumigants, nemacides, and some insecticides Compaction and soil erosion Monocropping Row crops and bare fallows o Some management practices that increase biodiversity in soils:

Balanced fertilizer use, liming Improved irrigation, drainage, and aeration Animal manures and composts, organic mulches Grass-legume pastures and cover crops